When you think of Wilderness, do you think of poisoning more than 45 miles of a pristine creek and over 30 acres of lakes and wetlands for up to five years?
How about up to 60 days of motorized use, including 81 helicopter landings in Wilderness?
Or compromising naturally fishless, biologically diverse aquatic ecosystems to create an artificial reserve for cutthroat trout?
These activities could not be more antithetical to the concept of Wilderness, which is why on November 8 we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, challenging the agency’s unlawful decision to poison more than 45 miles of Buffalo Creek in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness at the behest of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Styled as an effort to expand Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations, the project would involve a decade’s worth of helicopter landings plus the use of other motorized equipment to poison and kill fish, amphibians, and insects in numerous lakes, ponds, wetlands, and nearly fifty miles of high-mountain streams. After the poisoning is completed, the State of Montana would stock the naturally fishless lakes and streams with the trout. What makes the stocking especially misguided is that the project area within the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness was naturally fishless prior to human introduction of rainbow trout in the 1930s. The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is no place for the massive use of poisons or helicopters, nor is it a place for managers to play God with species and habitat manipulation. The Wilderness Act was passed precisely to rein in the propensity of managers to want to control nature. Our lawsuit seeks to preserve the wild character of the Wilderness and to let nature continue to evolve of its own free will. Back in 2021, over 10,000 of you heeded our calls to action and urged the Forest Service to say NO to the state of Montana’s proposal to invade the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness with helicopters, motorboats, and poisons. Thank you! This lawsuit is the next step in our collective efforts to keep Wilderness wild!
We’ve put together a resource page where you can learn more about this new lawsuit and even check out some of the great press coverage our lawsuit has generated.
As we’ve mentioned before, this poisoning project in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is just one of an increasing number of proposed projects around the country where managers want to create their desired conditions rather than protect wild nature. You can help support our efforts to protect the integrity of the National Wilderness Preservation System and incredible places like the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness by making a contribution today. |
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Help us protect the Absaroka-Beartooth and Wilderness around the country. A generous member has pledged to DOUBLE all first-time donations up to $30,000 this year. |
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